Week by Week 7: Broome is Blurry

September 16, 2015

Broome is blurry, a friend told me last week. It’s the perfect description. More than anywhere else I’ve lived, the days here bleed together. I’ve been here now for ten weeks, and for the most part, I find it difficult to remember specific days or weeks. Instead, it’s all one big, sandy haze.

This is what I come to every week when I sit down to write this update. I started these weekly posts mostly for myself, as a way to keep track of the details of this year in Australia, of my weekly experiences, movements and inspirations. On the one hand, it’s disconcerting to realize I can hardly recall my day-to-day life each week. I want so badly to remember it all, from big days off relaxing and exploring to little everyday moments like appreciating a coffee with friends or a lazy morning in a hammock. I’m loving this life too much to forget it.

But on the other hand, what choice do I have but to embrace it?

Broome may be a haze, but it’s a beautiful one. It’s one long sweep of contentment, a feeling I used to write off as dull and uninspiring but have learned here to appreciate as blissful, at ease. Even when time escapes me, even when my memory fails me, I remember at least the feeling of each week. It is always good, always easy.

The particulars of each day have passed me by, but this has been a good week. We’ve celebrated birthdays with surprises and sun at the backpackers, indulged in cheap wine at sunset on the beach, relaxed by the pool and even watched the NFL kickoff game (a good time even if everyone was rooting against my team). I visited the crocodile park outside of town with friends from work, where I fell in love with some dingoes and held a ten-foot python (surprisingly the best part of the trip — I’ve always been kind of intimidated by snakes!). It was a week of departures, with friends leaving both the hostel and work for new adventures. It was sad, of course, to see them go, but I know that in this case it’s truly not good-bye (I’ll see y’all in Melbourne!). It’s been in some ways a big week, in others a quiet one. In true Broome fashion, it’s been a happy blur.

//THIS WEEK

Reading…

I was meant to finish Anna Karenina this week, which has been the case forever. Instead, I got distracted trying to work at the library and ended up reading Murray Bail’s The Pages, a short novel about two women from Sydney (one a philosopher, the other a psychoanalyst) who travel to a sheep station to examine the writings of a recently deceased self-made philosopher, Wesley. I had read the author’s more famous Eucalyptus on my way to Australia, and while I loved its strong sense of place and lyrical, introspective writing, the story fell short for me. I felt the same about this read. Still, for the way Bail writes about the Australian landscape and how it influences people and their lives, I’d recommend either for anyone traveling in Australia.

Listening to…

Beirut has been one of my favorite bands since early in high school, and I’ve been looking forward to their new album for months. It’s shorter and more laidback than I expected, but I have a feeling it’s one that I’ll love more and more with each listen. I’m especially into “No No No” and “Perth.”

& Feeling Inspired by…

It looks like I just might be returning to Singapore for the third time this January, and if I do, I’ll definitely be checking out Nicole’s café recommendations from her post “Singapore’s Coffee Revolution”. I’ve been so spoiled by coffee here in Australia, my love for relaxing and working in cafes is only getting stronger! On another note, Sending Postcards has long been one of my favorite travel blogs to follow for photography, and this week’s shots of a Mount Davidson sunrise completely blew me away.

10 Comments

I always love to read your reading, listening, and inspired by blurbs! A lot of the time I’ve never heard of the things you mention, so I have no idea what you’re talking about…but you’re introducing me to lots of cool stuff! 😉

It was heavy, too! Thanks, Maddy. I kind of enjoy having a record of what I’m reading and listening to week by week because they tend to get caught up in my feelings and memories of a place. I’m happy to hear that those blurbs have helped you find new things 🙂

Of course, Nicole! I love being re-inspired to return to places I love. Thanks for getting me excited for Singapore all over again! Definitely do get in touch with me when you plan a trip to Broome. It really is a pretty special place.

Just saw your ‘day-to-day’ post on Paper Planes and it made me so nostalgic! I lived and worked in Broome (at Moonlight Bay Suites Hotel, funnily enough!) for about six weeks when I was in Australia a few years ago, and then travelled down the West Coast to Perth. Enjoy your West Coast travels – it’s easily one of the most naturally beautiful regions I’ve ever visited, and Coral Bay/Ningaloo Reef is my favourite place in Australia!Ashley recently posted…Expat in Edinburgh: Month 4

Love this, Ashley! Such a small world that you would have worked at Moonlight Bay. Life is so good in Broome right now, but I’m definitely getting excited for more explorations along the West Coast here. Ningaloo’s actually one of the biggest reasons I headed this way in the first place. Thrilled to hear it was your favorite!!

I completely relate! I’ve moved and traveled around the US where I’m from quite a bit, but I’ve still never made it to places like California or the Grand Canyon. Travelers I meet are always shocked when I say I’ve never been to Cali…but hey, we live in enormous countries! One day, right?

Welcome to Hummingbird Away!

Hola! I'm Katie, a freelance writer and virtual assistant from North Carolina (kind of). After moving around the States as a kid, I grew up and started moving around the world instead. These days, I'm dreamin', schemin' and empanada-eatin' from my new home base on the edge of Chile's Patagonia. Check out more of my story here!